GUWAHATI: The first Guwahati International Film Festival (GIFF) will open with Asghar Farhadi's Oscar award-winning Iranian drama "The Salesman".
"The Salesman" is a moving story about a husband who is determined to identify the attacker who assaulted his wife.
The six-day festival will start from Saturday.
Festival Director Monita Borgohain on Friday named the opening film on Friday at a press conference, adding that 75 films from 35 countries will be showcased at the festival.
"Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N. Karun, Jahnu Barua, Resul Pookutty, A.K. Bir shall be part of the festival in various capacities, which will have sections like World Cinema, Country Focus, Indian Panorama, Contemporary Iranian Cinema, Retrospectives, Cinema of Northeast, Cinema of Assam and the Tribute section," said Pabitra Margherita, chairman of Jyoti Chitraban (Film Studio) Society.
The festival has been curated by Srinivasa Santhanam, who has curated festival like International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and MAMI.
Santhanam said that Turkey is the focus country at the film festival.
The five films of Turkey which will be screened at the festival include "The Half" (Yarim) by Cagil Nurhak Aydogdu, "Cold Of Kalandar" directed by Mustafa Kara, "Dust Cloth" by Ahu Ozturk and "Ember" by Zeki Demirkubuz.
"An added attraction to the event is the presence of filmmakers from Spain and an actor from Czech Republic. Ambassadors from four countries, including Iran, Estonia, Croatia and Czech Republic have confirmed their presence already," he said.
Noted Sri Lankan filmmaker Prassana Vitthanage is the Chairman of the jury to select the Best Film from Assam.
Borgohain said an important feature of the festival "shall be Open Forum sessions on topics related to films and the region as well as Master Classes by masters in their respective fields".